


fear of falling

by orphan_account



Series: a bird's-eye view [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-18 05:58:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2337713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve doesn't like being in high places, but he shakes off his fear because he's supposed to be Captain America, fearless defender of the Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fear of falling

**Author's Note:**

> this idea just kind of planted itself in my mind amd wouldn't go away.

The feeling was ridiculous, Steve knew, but he just couldn't get rid of it. He was ashamed, and he couldn't tell anyone about it. He wasn't aware of it, of course, until it was too late, until he was hanging on the bottom of a plane that had just taken off, leaving Peggy and Phillips in the distance. 

_Shit._

_Why is the ground so far away?_

_I am definitely not okay with this._

Bucky's voice invaded his mind, telling him to shut up stop complaining get a fucking grip, Steve, just breathe. 

Breathe. Put one hand over the other, climb like you did on that damn rope net when you first started training. 

And suddenly he was inside the plane. And he was okay. (Apart from the whole 'Redskull is planning on destroying the world' issue, that is.) 

 

"I'm gonna have to put her in the water." 

As the words left his mouth, he felt an all-too-familiar feeling in the pit of his stomach. Fear. 

It wasn't just because he didn't want to die or leave Peggy and the Howling Commandos to finish the war for him, but because _oh no I'm falling nothing will be able to stop me is this how Bucky felt when he fell I should have gone after him_. 

And the next thing he knew, he'd been frozen for seventy years and he'd missed his date with Peggy Carter. 

 

Once he woke up, he didn't have time to process anything. He'd been pulled from one war and thrust into another one with the casualties of the first still fresh in his mind. He was tired, he wanted to try to make a life for himself in 2012, maybe find out if anyone he knew was still alive.

And all of a sudden, Tony Stark showed up, almost the spitting image of his father, with all his intelligence, the same way of defying orders and fooling around with technology, but there was just something about him. Something not right, something distinctly un-Howard Stark.

 

"We need a plan of attack!"

The helicarrier was open and Tony Stark was ready to jump out of it in his metal red-and-gold suit.

"I have a plan," he replied, voice muffled by the mask. "Attack."

And then he was gone, and Steve was supposed to be Captain America, he wasn't supposed to wait it out. (Besides, he needed a chance to test out his new suit before things got really bad.)

When he jumped out of the helicarrier, he regretted his decision immediately. He couldn't stop himself and there was nothing to hold onto and what if the parachute didn't open and _Bucky I am so sorry for just letting you fall_. But he had to calm himself down and survive long enough to save the world again. 

 

It happened again and again over the next few days, the twisting, tearing feeling in his stomach every time he looked down from a high place. 

But he had to keep fighting, because he didn't have a choice. He needed to save the world. It was the right thing to do. 

Steve was afraid of heights, but there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. 

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i know this isn't quite how a fear of heights works (or is it?? i wouldn't know) but basically my whole point was that it was because of bucky falling and stuff. i guess it's not so much a fear of heights as a fear of falling (as the title puts it). yeah.


End file.
